A teammate edits an invoice from two months ago after your accountant has already closed the books, and your numbers stop matching what you reported. A billing lock date prevents that. Choose a date, and every invoice, credit note, and payment issued on or before it becomes locked from creation, edits, and deletion, whether someone tries through the Admin Portal, an import, or the API.

The lock checks the issue date on invoices and credit notes, and the payment date on payments, not when the record was created. It works alongside your admin roles: only an Owner, or a role you grant the right permission, can move or remove it.

You need an Owner role, or a custom role granted the 'Locking Billing Period' permission, to set, change, or remove a billing lock date.

A billing lock date closes a billing period to further changes. Once you set one, every invoice and credit note issued on or before that date, and every payment or overpayment dated on or before it, becomes off-limits to editing, deletion, and voiding for anyone without the right permission. That protects numbers your accounting team has already reported.

The lock applies through the Admin Portal, imports, and the API, so a bulk import can't reopen a closed month any more than a manual edit can. By default, only teammates with an Owner role can set, change, or remove it. Grant the Locking Billing Period permission to a custom role to extend that ability to specific teammates without making them full Owners.

If an automated invoice falls within the locked period, the system generates it with an 'Awaiting Approval' status and notifies your admins. This ensures no changes go unnoticed. If you must change billing information on any invoice during the locked period, you must first remove the Billing Lock Date, apply the changes, and then set a new Billing Lock Date.

Knowing what a lock protects doesn't lock anything on its own. Set the date under Billing to put it into effect.

From this point on, only an Owner or a teammate with the Locking Billing Period permission (see below ↓) can create, edit, delete, or void anything dated inside the locked period. If you need to change something inside a period that's already locked, remove the lock date, make your edit, then set the lock date again.

Admins with the 'Owner' role must decide who else can set and change the billing lock date. To manage that, they must create a custom role.

When you set a billing lock date, the following actions will become unavailable:

If you try to execute any of the listed actions, the system will give you the following message: "This document falls under a locked billing period. You won't be able to edit it. If you need to make an adjustment, change your organization's billing lock date, or contact a teammate with the needed permissions."

Keep in mind a related but separate rule that can also block invoices from being edited. Once a payment or credit note is allocated to an invoice, that invoice can't be edited at all, no matter where it falls relative to the lock date. Remove the credit note or payment first, make your change, then reapply it.

If you want to completely remove the billing lock date and unlock all billing actions:

If you close your books at the end of each month, move the lock date forward right after your monthly bill run finishes, so nothing slips through before the numbers are final.

If you only need to fix one invoice inside a locked period, move the lock date back far enough to open that window instead of removing it entirely, then set it forward again once you're done.

What is a billing lock date?

A billing lock date is a setting in OfficeRnD Flex that blocks changes to invoices, credit notes, and payments dated on or before a date you choose. It protects billing records your accounting team has already reported on.

Who can set or change the billing lock date?

By default, only teammates with an Owner role can set or change the billing lock date. You can extend that ability to other teammates by granting a custom role the Locking Billing Period permission.

How do I grant a teammate permission to manage the billing lock date?

Grant this by creating or editing a custom role with the Locking Billing Period permission turned on under Settings > Account Details > Admin Roles, then assigning that role to the teammate under Settings > Account Details > Admin Users. See above for the full steps.

What happens once I set a billing lock date?

Once you set a billing lock date, nobody without the Owner role or the 'Locking Billing Period' permission can create, edit, delete, or void an invoice, credit note, or payment dated on or before that date. This applies through the Admin Portal, imports, and the API.

What exactly does the billing lock date block?

The billing lock date blocks creating, editing, deleting, or voiding an invoice or credit note with an issue date inside the locked period, and blocks payments or overpayments with a payment date inside it. It also blocks detaching line items from a locked invoice or credit note, and running a manual bill run with an issue date inside the period.

What happens if I try editing a locked invoice?

You'll see a message telling you the document falls under a locked billing period and can't be edited, with a prompt to change the lock date or contact a teammate with the right permission. Change the lock date yourself, or ask an Owner or permitted teammate to make the change for you.

How does the billing lock date affect automated invoice generation?

An automated invoice with an issue date inside the locked period still generates, but with an Awaiting Approval status instead of going out as usual. OfficeRnD notifies your designated email address, and an admin with permission to create invoices has to move the issue date outside the locked period before it can be approved.

How do I change something inside an already-locked period?

You change it by removing the billing lock date first, making your edit, and setting the lock date again afterward. You can't edit a locked record while the lock is still active.